NASA Warns of Potential Impact from 200-Foot Asteroid Heading Towards Earth
NASA has conducted numerous missions to asteroids in space, but perhaps its most significant one is the DART Test. This test marked the space agency’s initial attempt at planetary defense, involving the deliberate collision of a spacecraft with an approaching asteroid to alter its trajectory. The $330 million project proved successful, as the targeted asteroid, Dimorphos, was successfully diverted from its original path. While NASA experts assert that there are no imminent asteroid threats to Earth within the next century, the importance of implementing measures for planetary defense cannot be understated, as they serve to safeguard human lives in the event of any potential asteroid deviation towards our planet.
In a similar event, NASA has issued a warning that an asteroid will come very close to Earth, but is not expected to hit the planet. Know the details.
Details of Asteroid 2023 LN1
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) has revealed details about the asteroid, including its speed, approach distance and size. Named asteroid 2023 LN1, it is expected to make its closest approach to Earth today, July 10, at a distance of 6.8 million kilometers. Although this distance may seem large, it is a relatively small number in astronomical distances considering the size of the asteroid.
Asteroid 2023 LN1 is currently heading towards Earth at a speed of 20,847 kilometers per hour, which is much faster than even Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)!
Although this asteroid is not a planet killer, it still has potential destructive properties due to its massive size. NASA estimates that asteroid 2023 LN1 is about 200 feet across, making it almost the size of an airplane! It belongs to the group of Aten asteroids, which are Earth-crossing Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) with semi-major axes smaller than Earth’s. They are named after the asteroid 2062 Ate, and the first of their kind was discovered by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palomar Observatory on January 7, 1976.
About NASA’s DART test
The purpose of the Double Asteroid Detection Test, or DART test, was to strike a spacecraft at the Dimorphos asteroid and deflect it out of its path. According to NASA, Dimorphos is an asteroid moon just 530 feet wide that orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos that is nearly 5 times its size.
It took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit the larger asteroid Didymos. Astronomers examined the collision data using different telescopes and revealed that the orbital period was shortened by almost 32 minutes. The studies were carried out using images taken by the spacecraft camera cubeSAT LICIACube (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids), which consists of two key components, LUKE (LICIACube Unit Key Explorer) and LEIA (LICIACube Explorer Imaging for Asteroids). ), both of which captured the most important information about the crash.
ESA’s Hera spacecraft observed the outcome of the collision and reported the results for further study.
